Farmers Knowledge on Pesticide Usage in Paddy and Cabbage Crops

The study was conducted to investigate the knowledge of the farmers on pesticide use in selected crops during 2019-22. Two crops namely paddy and cabbage were selected and tow districts that have higher area namely Koppal and Belagavi were selected. In each district, two taluks and eighty farmers were selected for each crop by simple random procedure to form a total sample of 160 farmers. Overall knowledge index of pesticides by farmers was higher in case of paddy (73.57%) and cabbage (64.76%) farmers. Among the various dimensions, knowledge index was highest with respect to concentration and application practice (96.72% & 82.97%), types of sprayers and maintenance (91.25% & 87.50%), IPM practices (73.75% & 70.00) among paddy, and cabbage. Further, knowledge with respect to pest identification (69.06% & 57.66%), toxicity of pesticide and labels signs (68.59% & 61.09%) and disposal of pesticides and personal hygiene (67.86% & 61.09%) was around sixty percent among cabbage and paddy growers respectively. Further, low index was observed with respect to pesticide selection (26.88% & 38.54%) in case of paddy and cabbage growers respectively. Regarding overall knowledge of the pesticide use the findings revealed that Majority (72.50%) of the growers belongs to medium knowledge of pesticide category in case of paddy, low knowledge category in cabbage crop (38.75%) there is need for orientation to the farmers on different insect pests and pathogens through training and digital media. The short video on pests in different crops may be prepared and made access to upload on smart phones of farmers.